Sister-run lemonade stand slakes thirst, raises smiles

Prosperity, left, and Chanya Antoine of Chattanooga set up a lemonade stand in the Vineyard Haven Stop & Shop parking lot. — Photo by Michael Cummo

When life gives you a stand, make a lemonade stand. Or that’s what Prosperity and Chanya Antoine of Chattanooga, Tenn., thought, anyway.

The two sisters have set up shop on the side of the Vineyard Haven Stop and Shop parking lot, selling big glasses of cold lemonade and cookies with the smiles and charm of successful young entrepreneurs.

“One of my dad’s friends had the stand and he gave it to us, and we didn’t really know what we were going to do with it,” Prosperity, 13, said Friday. “But then the idea came up, what about a lemonade stand?”

The two are raising money for a charity run by Nashville Life Church back home in Tennessee.

“We’re helping them raise money for blanket donations and things like that, to help them serve families who are hungry and need clothing, food, all those types of things,” Prosperity said.

Some of the money will also go to Joyce Meyer Ministries and its effort to help children get food and clean water in places like Africa and the Philippines, she said.

Friday was their third day running the stand, and Prosperity said they planned to operate for two more days, on Sunday and Monday.

“It’s been going pretty good,” she said. “Lots of people have been getting lemonade and supporting us.”

The going rate at the stand was $2 for a cup of lemonade and $1 for two cookies. They were sold out of plain and chocolate chip cookies, but still had some oatmeal raisin and peanut butter left to sell.

“I think we serve about 100 to 150 people in a day, depending on how busy the day is,” Prosperity said. “We had about 200 cups yesterday, and most of them were gone.”

Prosperity said she was enjoying talking to people from the community. Her family is living on the Vineyard for the summer while her dad works a carpentry job. But, she said, they might be moving to the Island.

In between moments of schmoozing customers with her big personality and smile, 5-year-old Chanya Antoine said she likes living on the Island.

“The best part of being at Martha’s Vineyard is that I get to go to the beach,” she said. “I like the whole town.”